This phone will be based around these tenets, coherent with our philosophy:

Free Software with a bona fide GNU+Linux stack (not Android)
Protecting your privacy
Digital security
Avoiding corporate wiretapping
Freedom-respecting hardware
Starting with the essentials and evolving the product offering through its software and infrastructure
Releasing the schematics of the hardware, encouraging participation at all levels and allowing you to independently audit the integrity of your hardware
Breaking the cycle of planned obsolescence imposed by most manufacturers

There is survey where you can tell what hardware and specifications you'd like to see in a phone.

Well, you can't even ask for a screen resolution below 4,5 inch. Next. (And why is 512MB RAM even an option? They're going to preload it with some Android-based thing anyway so it wouldn't be able to use a single application.)

On a side-note, which market does Purism target, exactly? Their stuff costs SO MUCH MONEY you have to be rather affluent to be able to afford them on a whim. Ethics are great and all, but if your only possible customers are super rich kids, is there any purpose to your product except bragging rights? It's high time these companies trying to show not only Apple can make far too expensive luxury products get a clue and see that things can be good without being expensive. The luxury market is already lost on people who can afford to live luxury lifestyles, and surprise surprise, those people could not care less about ethical products.

Edit: missed this tidbit: "Do you require a mobile connection outside wifi?" What? Why would anyone buy a phone of €1000 if you can't even use it as a phone? What were they thinking?

And for the price, well if you just produce small amounts usually the customer have to pay more, because you can't spread the fix costs on 100000 units. And of course it costs more money to have a free and open device, because you don't pay with your personal data and the manufacturer don't get money for advertising other products ...

Edit: missed this tidbit: "Do you require a mobile connection outside wifi?" What? Why would anyone buy a phone of €1000 if you can't even use it as a phone? What were they thinking?

Yeps, and if you read it carefully it does indeed provide the reasoning behind this; as the current phone devices have closed-source baseband processing it is impossible to adhere to the free ideals that the device tries to achieve.

It does state though, that they will try to pursue open alternative for the baseband which is a fairly difficult goal IMHO.

Well, you can't even ask for a screen resolution below 4,5 inch. Next. (And why is 512MB RAM even an option? They're going to preload it with some Android-based thing anyway so it wouldn't be able to use a single application.)

We all know the mantra. We have heard it a gazillion times and it is getting old.

The companies should realize this. In this equation,

profit = retail price - production cost

it is not the "production cost" part that is fixed. It is the "retail price" part. You need to start from that and then see how you can squeeze the production cost such that profit will be a positive number. If you work out you cannot do that, then don't even start. Do not attempt to cheat by increasing the retail price! It won't work.

Originally Posted by juiceme

Yeps, and if you read it carefully it does indeed provide the reasoning behind this;

Again, we have heard that many times too. Then find your way around that or call things what they are:

That sounds at least interesting, but with just Wifi it's pretty useless for me. Everywhere, where I have Wifi im not bound to a small form factor and can use my Laptop. Probably other people have other use cases. But that's what applies to me.

We all know the mantra. We have heard it a gazillion times and it is getting old.

The companies should realize this. In this equation,

profit = retail price - production cost

it is not the "production cost" part that is fixed. It is the "retail price" part. You need to start from that and then see how you can squeeze the production cost such that profit will be a positive number. If you work out you cannot do that, then don't even start. Do not attempt to cheat by increasing the retail price! It won't work.

It's old but true. That's the way things work. And the problem aren't the production costs, but the development costs.

I am generalizing and including development costs in the production costs. You produce N units at a total cost of X. That X comprises development cost Y and production cost Z. Y is more or less fixed, in a sense that it does not change with the number of units produced. Z does. The rest is simple arithmetics.

__________________In particle accelerators atoms are indeed not only touching each others. But banging together in a massive explosive orgasm.
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